Skip Granger, 1960
Having lived much of my younger days in Kansas and having a close friendship with Bob Gates in my youth and Bob Dole during my law school days as his campaign driver in Kansas, it is no surprise that I was then somewhat conservative in my views (which are becoming altered during the current times). However, I did not know what conservative really was until I met Chris Ruddy!
I had long been a friend of Dana Allen and often attended SF 49ers football games with him. I knew that he was also conservative, and he knew that I had many good connections in the venture capital community. So he asked me to help his friend raise some money to start a new business. That was the beginning of my new adventure!
I was attending a Hambrick and Quist venture capital conference in San Francisco and offered to introduce Dana’s friend around a bit. That’s when I met Chris Ruddy, and we were off to the races! He met me at SF City Hall. He had to be impressed that our host had the string section of the San Francisco Symphony placed on the sides of the marble staircase entertaining us with their music. When he asked to ascend the stairs, I forgot what was at the top thereof. When we reached the last step, there was the door to the Mayor’s office, the Honorable Willie Brown, our black mayor. Somewhat embarrassed, but undaunted, I continue introducing Chris to other venture capitalists.The next evening was a private reception that I attended with Chris. Since he was my guest, they assumed that he was a venture capitalist and gave him a gold badge like mine. He had brought copies of his business plan, but was surprised when attendees wanted to give him theirs. As he was wearing the gold badge, they assumed that he had a venture capital fund! For my efforts in assisting him to raise money, Chris rewarded me by making shares of stock in his new company available at an amazing value.
However, my story doesn’t end there. Chris also invited me to dinners and events with his investors from his new company, Newsmax. I did not attend because the opposite party was in power, and I could imagine the FBI out front, taking down license numbers of the cars. I suppose that I am a bit paranoid.
Later, when the political powers had changed, I attended a luncheon at the Ritz Carlton in San Francisco, where I learned what extreme conservatism really is! Rather than get involved in political issues, Chris Ruddy got involved in wealth and offered to buy Dana and me out at a considerable premium. We didn’t feel that we had a lot of choice since Chris planned to own the entire company. Dana moved to Nevada as a tax refugee and now lives in Puerto Rico ,where he cannot even vote. As for me, I had a family living in Kentfield, CA; so I stayed there and had to pay my taxes on capital gains from the Newsmax stock. Woe is me – and the IRS made three!
